Piramal Enterprises sanctions Rs 700 crore to ACME Solar

Piramal Finance Limited (PFL), a part of Ajay Piramal-controlled Piramal Enterprises has sanctioned Rs. 700 crore to ACME Solar Holdings, Delhi-based Independent Power Producer with a portfolio of over 1.8 GW of solar power across the 14 states. The lending was done through Corporate Finance Group (CFG) of PFL.

This is the second round of funding availed by ACME Solar from Piramal’s financial arm. Earlier in 2016, ACME Solar raised Rs. 499 crore from PFL and its partner, Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management NV.

ACME Solar is planning to use the funds to invest in solar and electric transportation business and ensure timely completion of projects. Company’s current operational capacity is over 1 GW and expected to reach 1.4 GW by September end. ACME Solar’s current turnover is around Rs. 4,500 crore with solar business contributing over 80 per cent of it while rest coming from telecom and household and industry-based energy storage business.

In May this year, ACME Solar announced venturing into electric vehicle space by partnering with Ola. The company set up EcoCharge Battery Swapping and Charging Stations for Ola for the its pilot project at Nagpur City in which 200 vehicles, including buses,cars and autos, running on electricity. ACME is currently planning to replicate this project in other states and with other aggregators in future.

When asked about other ways of fund-raising the company has been exploring, including going for an IPO or listing solar assets through infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), Dhingra said while equity fund raise is in process, the company is currently fully funded from its internal accruals till FY18.